This study in the context of National Curriculum Framework (2005) and constructivist approach to learning and critical pedagogy, gauges the attainment of upper primary students in Malayalam, science, social studies and mathematics in 2011 and compares it with that of their age group during 1999, in Kerala, India. Overall achievement of students…

This study examines the origins of geometry in and out of the intuitively given everyday lifeworlds of children in a second-grade mathematics class. These lifeworlds, though pre-geometric, are not without model objects that denote and come to anchor geometric idealities that they will understand at later points in their lives. Roth's analyses…

Drawing on the example of a recent study (Wang, 2010), this paper discusses the application of a sociocultural approach to information literacy research and curricular design. First, it describes the foundation of this research approach in sociocultural theories, in particular Vygotsky's sociocultural theory. Then it presents key theoretical…

Math education in the United States remains resistant to systemic change, and our country pays the price. Stemhagen's article "Democracy and School Math" further confirms this trend. Despite repeated calls for reform, decades of research on how people learn, millions of dollars invested in teacher professional development, and years of…

The article provides a rationale and description of a constructivist parent-teacher approach used to support preservice teachers' understandings of relationships between home and school. Using a critical theoretical framing of policy, social science, and enacted curriculum, the authors ask readers to consider moving away from proscribed models of…

The initial cognitive ability to coordinate experience into a hierarchically organized, multi-episode narrative occurs in youth, beginning a narrative record of ego identity development that continues throughout the life span (Habermas and Bluck in "Psychological Bulletin" 126:748-769, 2000; Habermas and de Silveira in "Developmental Psychology"…

This article contributes to this special edition of "Technology, Pedagogy and Education" by looking at beliefs about knowing and learning held by 15 teacher educators with longstanding involvement in the Association for Information Technology in Teacher Education. Beliefs were challenging to identify but were ascribed to participants through…

Research on learning to teach repeatedly cites the disjuncture in teaching practices promoted across universities and K-12 schools. Much of the literature that is focused on this "two-worlds pitfall" (Feiman-Nemser & Buchmann, 1985) describes the influence of cooperating teachers' more traditional teaching practices on teacher candidates'…

This study employed a case study design (Yin, "Case study research, design and methods," 2009) to investigate the processes used by 5th graders to design and develop computer games within the context of their environmental science unit, using the theoretical framework of "constructionism." Ten fifth graders designed computer games using "Scratch"…

There are studies especially at higher education level investigating the subsequent responses of students towards reciprocity, tacit agreement and assessment of peers, but research on the effect of gender on peer assessment is limited. The present study focuses on whether peer assessment used in cooperative learning groups varies with respect to…

It is possible that the pedagogical benefits of a discussion board or any asynchronous communicative tool may not be realised as inscribed in terms like "collaborative learning environment" or "discussion board" due to two things: first, as instructors, we focus on what the technology can do and should do and ignore "what…

Purpose: The aim of this paper is to identify the principles and characteristics of a learning conference which uses action learning and action research (ALAR) processes to create: optimal learning for all participants through a collaborative, inclusive conference culture; further knowledge creation in publishing conference papers post-conference…

This study investigates the long-term effects of instructing Cantor set theory using constructivist learning approach on student knowledge retention. The participants included 60 first-year secondary mathematics pre-service teachers. Students were divided into two classes one of which was taught via traditional lecture (n = 30) and the other was…

Saudi student enrollment in U.S. colleges and universities has nearly tripled since 2009-2010, in large part due to the King Abdullah Scholarship Program. The representation of Saudi females is also increasing due to the loosening of Saudi Arabia's long-standing restrictions on women's travel and acceptable fields of study and careers. This…

This paper offers insight into learning Slovak in an e-learning environment. The need to reach distance-learners of Slovak led to the implementation of a web-based course on Slovak language and culture in 2008-2010. The pedagogical basis of the course, called Virtual Slovak, is the socioconstructivist approach to teaching and learning, in which…